A few days ago I shared the beginning of my living room makeover with the faux brick wall I created in my living/dining room and today I'm back to show you the finished wall!
I wanted to create a focal wall that had the appearance of old, weathered brick. I also wanted something lighter and brighter than the dark grey wall that was there before. My living room is north facing and a little dark feeling for my taste.
In an effort to lighten up the room and create an exciting focal point I recreated the feel of old brick with the German schmear technique (also sometimes called a mortar wash).
This took about 5 hours to complete but it's a very long wall so it would take even less time if you want to recreate this look on a smaller accent wall.
To start this process you'll load up your grout float with a good amount of joint compound (drywall compound and joint compound are the same thing so it's just whatever your hardware store calls it).
I recommend a rubber grout float for this project instead of a hard metal trowel to save your brick from getting scratched up.
Once you have your float loaded with the compound start at the seams and smear it all over the bricks paying special attention to the seams.
Once you have gotten one panel done it should have started to harden a little bit. Once it starts to harden a little you'll start scraping some back off and cleaning out the grout lines with a plastic putty knife.
I also used a tiling sponge to clean off some of the bricks and bring out the red again.
Have a bucket or large pan of water close by and get the sponge wet, wring it out and then wipe off some of the bricks.
Once I had the whole wall covered to my liking I went over it with fine sandpaper to knock off any chunks and then I went over the whole wall with the damp sponge to remove any dust.
Here is a shot of the wall before...
And after...
And here is a shot into the dining room before...
I decided to paint my interior garage door and a little accent wall while I was at it! Here is the garage door before...
And here is that same door painted a pretty navy blue called "Naval" by HGTV Home!
This is the sliding glass door wall before...
And after in that same navy color with crisp white trim in "Arctic Cotton"!
Here is the living room wall before...
After the faux brick was installed...
What do you think?
If you missed any of the progress so far you can catch up here:
I wanted to create a focal wall that had the appearance of old, weathered brick. I also wanted something lighter and brighter than the dark grey wall that was there before. My living room is north facing and a little dark feeling for my taste.
In an effort to lighten up the room and create an exciting focal point I recreated the feel of old brick with the German schmear technique (also sometimes called a mortar wash).
This took about 5 hours to complete but it's a very long wall so it would take even less time if you want to recreate this look on a smaller accent wall.
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Supplies
- Joint Compound (or drywall compound) - I used two 3.5 qt. containers
- Grout Float for spreading the joint compound
- Plastic Putty Knife for scraping
- Tiling Sponge
- Fine grit sandpaper
Once you have gotten one panel done it should have started to harden a little bit. Once it starts to harden a little you'll start scraping some back off and cleaning out the grout lines with a plastic putty knife.
I also used a tiling sponge to clean off some of the bricks and bring out the red again.
Have a bucket or large pan of water close by and get the sponge wet, wring it out and then wipe off some of the bricks.
Here is a little video of my process.
You can still see the seams a little bit but I think part of the reason they are so visible to me is that I know exactly where they are. Also, having things up against the wall and some artwork will distract the eye away from them.
Once I had the whole wall covered to my liking I went over it with fine sandpaper to knock off any chunks and then I went over the whole wall with the damp sponge to remove any dust.
Here is a shot of the wall before...
And after...
And here is a shot into the dining room before...
I decided to paint my interior garage door and a little accent wall while I was at it! Here is the garage door before...
And here is that same door painted a pretty navy blue called "Naval" by HGTV Home!
This is the sliding glass door wall before...
And after in that same navy color with crisp white trim in "Arctic Cotton"!
Here is the living room wall before...
What do you think?
If you missed any of the progress so far you can catch up here:
Next up in the living room makeover is painting the rest of the walls. I chose a warm, creamy white called "Downy", also from HGTV Home.
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